Obesity is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer as well as other pathologies. The current therapies for obesity focus on lifestyle changes and include eating fewer calories and increasing physical activity, with medications and highly invasive weight loss surgery being options if lifestyle changes are ineffective. Unfortunately, despite widespread implementation of these therapies there has been no significant decrease in the prevalence of obesity within the U.S. over the past decade. More recent approaches have suggested that in order to increase success rates in treatment for obesity it may be necessary to focus more attention on underlying metabolic disorders for which obesity may be a symptom, rather than a cause.
Metabolic syndrome is a term used to identify individuals exhibiting at least three of five medical conditions including abdominal (central) obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting plasma glucose, high serum triglycerides, and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. When obesity is found in combination with two or more of these other conditions in metabolic syndrome, the risk of developing life threatening disease such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes becomes even greater. It is estimated that in the USA, about a quarter of the adult population have metabolic syndrome, and the prevalence increases with age, with racial ethnic minorities being particularly affected.
The interrelationship of obesity with metabolic syndrome leading to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disorders ranks among the most important health problems facing Western and Westernized populations. Clinical abnormalities in these disorders, including hyper/dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and glucose intolerance are each independent cardiovascular risk factors that are usually treated piecemeal and with limited success.
What are needed in the art are materials and methods for treating metabolic disorders, and in particular those leading to obesity. Materials and methods capable of treating the underlying causes of metabolic syndrome and in particular obesity would be of great benefit.